0 The Michigan Daily -- michigandaiiy.com December 1, 2008 - 3B ICE H)CKEY Dismal penalty Sauer shines without goal kill gives Blue support against Wisconsin ano her split Two Badger power play goals prove to be difference in Michigan loss By CHRIS MESZAROS Daily Sports Writer MADISON - Before this week- end, the Michigan hockey team was confident in its special teams. It had successfully killed off 25 straight power-play chances, a streak that didn't end until Minne- sota scored on a 2-man advantage in the second period of Michigan's 6-3 win Friday. But in the Wolverines' 3-0 loss to Wisconsin the next night, the power-play and penalty-killing units proved ineffective. The Wolverines gave Wiscon- sin nine opportunities on the man advantage and it converted twice. Badger forward Michael Davies opened the scoring three minutes into the third period off a rebound from goaltender Billy Sauer. The senior stopped a rocket from Wis- consin defensemanBrandon Smith fromthe left circle, but Sauer came too far out of the crease and had no chance to save the shot off the rebound. The Badgers added another tally on the man advantage later in the frame. "I can't tell you we played poor- ly, I can't tell you we played well," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "We just didn't look like a sharp team. You can only kill so many penalties. Sooner or later, it catches up with you." The Wolverines' penalty kill started strong, giving up just three shots in the first four Badger power plays. But thenthe systembroke down. Michigan's special teams looked exhausted on the ice, failed to clear pucks and over-chased forwards, GOPHERS From Page 1B Naurato, an unlikely source of offense who had just one goal coming into the game, opened up the scoring, firinga one-timer past Kangas' stick side off a pass from sophomore forward Ben Winnett. Sophomore forward Carl Hage- lin continued the onslaught, tally- ing his third and fourth goals of the season. Freshman forward David Wohlberg added another to give Michigan an insurmountable 4-0 lead in the second period. Though Minnesota closed the gap, the game wasn't as close as the score indicates. Michigan was unable to carry over the momentum from beating the Gophers into its game the next night against Wisconsin, which would determine the unofficial getting out of position. As a result, it was difficult for the Wolverines to get any offensive rhythm. "We have about six or seven for- wards who kill penalties and it's the other five or six forwards who get out of the game," Berenson said. "They're sitting there minute after minute after minute and then you get out there and you feel like you haven't even played." The penalties enabled the Bad- gers to controlthe second and third periods, and Wisconsin eventually totaled 30 shots on goal - 11 more than Michigan. With the man advantage, Mich- igan tallied just two shots on goal in its three attempts and the unit looked worse as the game pro- gressed. In Michigan's final power play of the game, Wisconsin easily cleared pucks from danger and the Wolverines were unable to set up any offense. "Its hard to win a game when you have to play PK almost half the time," sophomore forward Carl Hagelin said. "Our PP really didn't get it going tonight. Just like Coach said, it was a special teams game tonight. They had two PP goals tonight and we had zero, and that's the bottom line." The night before against Min- nesota, Michigan again had three power play opportunities and failed to convert. With six even- strength goals, it wasn't as critical to capitalize. But when special-teams units were on the ice for 24 of 60 min- utes Saturday, it became crucial to score. "It's hard to get on a roll, espe- cially when you're in the box for the whole second period and part of the third," junior acting captain Chris Summers said. "To get any type of offensive chances, you're going to have to be five-on-five. That kind of helped them with momentum." College Hockey Showcase Cham- pion. Before the weekend series,t Berenson decided to switch gamesi for senior goaltender Sauer and sophomore Bryan Hogan, play-t ing Hogan on Friday and Sauerc on Saturday, in hopes of igniting a1 Michigan offense that had strug- gled to give its senior netminder1 goal support.1 "We've played Sauer all yeart on Friday night and we haven'tt scored," Berenson said. "So this week we flip-flopped and wet scored on Friday and not on Sat-i urday. I thought it was just one of those things. You can see Billy1 Sauer is a good goalie. He gave us every chance to win, and wej didn't score for him." The loss to Wisconsin (7-7-2)t was the third time the Wolver- ines have been shut out this year.1 Michigan hasn't been shut out three times since the 2000-2001 By CHRIS MESZAROS Daily Sports Writer MADISON - Michigan senior goaltender Billy Sauer has started this season with a disappointing 2-6 record. But the poor win-loss total isn't entirely his fault - the Wolverine offense has made Sau- er's life in net miserable. In his two wins, Sauer received a total of eight goals of support. In his six losses, the Wolverines scored just four total goals. In Saturday's 3-0 loss to Wis- consin, the senior played spectac- ular through the first two periods. The game was scoreless through 40 minutes. With 12 minutes remaining in the second period, Sauer saved a shot but was out of position on the rebound. A Badger attempted' a wraparound, but Sauer dove back to close the opening and cover the puck. "He stood on his head in the second period," Berenson said. "When you play on the road, the other team is going to catch fire at some point. They did and he matched that. We had to respond for him and we didn't do it." Moments after his big save, Sauer made another stop that stunned the Kohl Center crowd After a medium-range shot that Sauer stopped stick-side, a Wisconsin player recovered the rebound and looked to stuff the puck into the empty side of the net. But the Michigan goalie got his stick over just in time to keep the game scoreless. "He played phenomenally," junior acting-captain Chris Sum- mers said. "If it wasn't for him, it would have been a whole different story. We wouldn't have been 0-0 going into the third period. That gave us a little confidence." Though Sauer gave Michigan a chance through two periods, pen- alties killed the Wolverines. Sauer saved 13 shots in the sec- ond period when the Wolverines spent much of the period down a man. Though two third-period power-play goals doomed Michi- gan, it wouldn't have been so close without Sauer. campaign. ad Wisconsin is one of the hottest pa teams in the nation and is 7-1-1 in ca its last nine games. p Sauer played well enough for the Wolverines to win, but instead ea of Michigan killing off penalties, co penalties killed the Wolverines. gi Wisconsin had five straight d power-play chances in the second m period, and was onthe man advan- tage nine times total, compared to en three for the Wolverines. fit Two power-play goals in the th third period were the difference ha in the game. Freshman defensemen Greg w Pateryn's hooking penalty set up lo Wisconsin's game-winner, and at junior forward BrianLebler's five- minute major enabled the Badgers d to seal the game. "We can kill a few penalties, gt but we can't kill nine," Berenson w said. to "I don't know how much that h SAID ALSALAH/Daily Senior goaltender Billy Sauer, seen here against Miami (Ohio), made 13 saves in the second period of Saturday's game against the Badgers to keep Michigan in the contest. But the offense couldn't score, and Sauer's individual record fell to 2-6. GAME CHANGING MOMENTS: Usually a game isn't defined by two minutes of play, but Michi- gan's 3-0 loss to Wisconsin was decided in that short period of time. The Wolverines started the third period on a power play after sophomore Carl Hagelin drew an interference penalty on a chance down low. The power play had the potential to swing momen- tum in Michigan's favor after a dismal second period, but Wisconsin easily killed the penalty. Freshman defenseman Greg Pateryn picked up a penalty seconds later, and Wisconsin scored the game winner on the ensuing power play. "It's a 0-0 game after two and we've got to generate something on that power play and it didn't happen," Beren- son said. "Then we take a bad penalty, and pretty soon we're dded up to with the five-minute enalty,. but it's too much. We me on this trip to be a disci- ined team." The Wolverines reverted to arlier tendencies against Wis- nsin - making careless passes, ving up costly turnovers in the efensive zone and taking too any penalties. Michigan's objective this week- ad was to gain confidence and nd consistency. Berenson hoped e Sauer-Hogan switch would elp. But after a dominating Friday in and disappointing Saturday ss, the team is still looking for nswers. "We've had a couple of bad Fri- ays," Hagelin said. "But obviously this Friday was ood so there's nothing wrong ith us on Fridays. We just need stay out of the box and play ard." on our heels. We had a couple of isolated chances, but they were the better team on the night." WHY THANKSGIVING?: It seems games against Big Ten com- petition would be a big draw for both students and fans of Michi- gan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. But with the College Hockey Showcase occurring Thanks- giving weekend, most students weren't on campus. The Wisconsin student section at the Kohl Center was practically empty Saturday. The official attendance was announced at 14,025, but that number was a gross exaggera- tion. The arena with a capacity of 15,237 was about two-thirds full. n-rn,,D OK WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Wolverines take next step with Lady Eagle Classic championship By RYAN KARTJE tournament title came against losophy that emphasizes driving far between for post players in Daily Sports Writer Southern Mississippi, the same into the lane and kicking the ball Big Ten. team the Wolverines dominated out for the open jump shot. "The more you score aro Michigan women's basketball last season to vault them into the Southern Mississippi closed that basket, the more you get b coach Kevin Borseth said his top third round of the NIT. the gap to two before Minnfield up," Borseth said. "It's tough priority for his second season Despite his team's recent hit a three-pointer and helped the deal with the shoving and fig would be building a culture of achievements, Borseth isn't ready Wolverines pull ahead for good. ing for the hoop down low. success. to call the development complete. Her performance was reminis- had success this weekend, bu "We don't have any tradition," "You can't really throw around cent of her game-high 13 points continue that is going to be pre Borseth said at Big Ten Media Day words like tradition, even if last season against the Eagles in difficult." in October. "And we need to build we won our first tournament," the NIT. On Friday against Belmont, that tradition to really succeed as Borseth said. "We can't hang our "She's been around long enough Wolverines waited until the fi a program. You don't just get that hats on little things like this." that we feel comfortable leaning seconds to close out the game. overnight." The Wolverines came out with on her for a lot," Borseth said. Trailing most of the game, In the past week, Borseth's confidence Saturday against "She's making shots, and that's mont went on a 9-0 run to cut team took the first steps toward Southern Mississippi (3-3) after got her looking more confident as Wolverines' lead to one with building that culture. beating Belmont (3-2) the previ- our point guard." seconds on the clock. Beat a ranked opponent. ous night gave them their first But Minnfield wasn't the only But Minnfield hit two clu The Wolverines upset No. 13 winning streak of the season. one to dominate the Eagles for the free throws to secure the win. . Vanderbilt 50-42 Nov. 23. The last Led by senior point guard Jes- second year in a row. The Wolverines will hope to time Michigan downed a ranked sica Minnfield's 23 points, Michi- Senior forward Stephany Skrba the momentum from their team was Feb. 29, 2004, when it gan blew the game open after scored a career-high 20 points on tournament win as they emb defeated then-No. 12 Minnesota. Southern Mississippi kept it close 9-of-13 shooting from the floor. on a long road swing in the Win its first tournament in for the first 15 minutes. But Min- She had 13 points last season. week that includes matchups eight seasons. nfield closed the first half with Her scoring presence in the USC and Duke. Michigan (4-2) took the crown the final nine Wolverine points to post was something Borseth had It's a trip Borseth referred t this weekend at the Lady Eagle give Michigan a seven-point lead been looking for all season. "the gauntlet." Classic in Hattiesburg, Miss. The heading into halftime. "She's someone I can count on "We have to conduct busit Wolverines beat a talented Bel- The second half was more of the in the post," Minnfield said. "She's on our time and keep up mont squad 64-60 Friday and host same for Michigan, as Minnfield been making things happen when- momentum if we want to suct Southern Mississippi, 61-51, the cashed in on open shot opportuni- ever I put the ball in her hands." like we did this weekend," Bors following night. ties to net 14 of her 23 points. Her Borseth said great perfor- said. "That's our style. That's It was unusual that the team's clear looks came off Borseth's phi- mances like Skrba's are few and we're going to win." the und beat h to ght- She at to etty the inal Bel- the h 13 utch use first bark next with to as mess that ceed seth how 4